Talent engagement describes the involvement of people at all levels in an organisation in a positive two-way dialogue. The aim is to deliver the highest quality of service or excellence to create a positive customer engagement experience that will result in a profitable business platform.

High levels of talent engagement are shown to yield higher productivity and organisational performance, increased operating and net profit, improved customer focus, lower rates of absenteeism, and higher levels of staff retention.

There are several suggested building blocks for talent engagement. You can build a capability to communicate the vision so people understand what, why and how. One can also promote open and constructive relationships to respond to system-wide changes and support internal partnership dialogue.

To ignite communication and provide feedback channels, you can support understanding of what and why. You can also develop line managers so they can continue to support and empower their teams.

Another building block is to encourage and empower problem-solving and innovation, and to recognise good work practices and promote knowledge sharing opportunities.

Staff surveys can serve as a basis for understanding the effectivity of engagement strategies, listening to staff ideas or suggestions and following through with action. Finally, you can tie talent engagement improvements with competitive and achievable rewards and recognition.

To sum up, remember the 4Rs: rewards, respect, relationships and recognition.   

Christine Sim, general manager, Links Recruitment